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Workouts for Free

I never really thought about needing to workout to prepare for golf. It gets warm out and you go play. Sure I would be sore the next day, but so what. Then, I hit my 40’s and had my first golf injury.

It was 2016 and we were playing in Pennsylvania and West Virginia as we continued our quest to golf 50 states. We were a little rushed getting to the first course and didn’t have much time to warm up. I felt a twinge in my upper back, neck and trap area. I made it through the weekend and was able to play, but it bothered me enough to be annoying.

Four months later, I was still be dealing with it. I found a good chiropractor and massage therapist that got me back into shape. But it took time. It left me wondering. Could I have prevented it?

I certainly cannot guarantee that any of these workouts will prevent a future injury. What I can say is that they help stretch and strengthen parts you don’t use in everyday life. They are challenging, but doable. They make me feel good. I hope they do the same for you.

Fitness blender has hundreds of free videos available on YouTube. They are high quality and have great variety. Kellie and Daniel have close to 5 million followers on their YouTube channel. This workout focused on golf is awesome and is 35 minutes long.

Tony Horton

If you have ever done or heard of P90X then you know who Tony Horton is. This short 15 minute workout is his spin on getting your core ready for golf.

Millionaire Hoy

As he likes to say, “this is your boy Millionaire Hoy”. This workout is not golf specific, but helps guide you through some basic yoga moves to get a deep stretch. It is definitely worth 30 minutes of your time the day after a round of golf.

Like this:

I have a tip that can take five strokes off anyone’s golf game: it’s called an eraser. ~Arnold Palmer

Handicaps

To keep our yearly event fair and competitive, we have long used a handicap system. We adjust our handicaps every year for the 3 games we play. Ideally, it should give either team an equal chance to win every year. In theory, it should also prevent long winning streaks, but that is not always the case.

How We Handicap

Let’s say your handicap for the current year is -2 for stroke. Then, you win by 2 strokes with your actual score. How do we determine handicaps for next year?

Determine the differential

Think of the differential as what you won or lost by including handicap. In this case, after applying handicap, we would have won by 4 strokes. Differential is positive number if you win and negative if you lose.

Handicap (-2) + Actual (-2) = 4 This the differential. With handicap, we won by 4.

We could just take that number and apply that to our current handicap. (-2 ) + 4 = 2. This would mean the handicap would swing from getting 2 strokes to giving up 2 strokes the following year.

We decided this put too much weight on the current year. To normalize things we divide the differential by 2. In this case:

Modified Differential 4 divided by 2 = 2

Now to establish handicap for next year, we take last year’s handicap (-2) and add the modified differential (+2) since we won actual.

-2 + 2 = 0, The handicap for next year would be 0. In other words, we would play straight up.

Headaches

Hopefully that wasn’t as painful to read as it was to write. Doing things this way is a good method, but it is confusing. Year after year, it always took us time to figure things out. After a few arguments, several math problems, and a little trash talking, we would eventually get back to this method.

Let’s do one more example:

Stroke handicap (-2)

Actual (+3) – we lost by 3 and so with handicap lost by 1.

Differential (-2) + (+3) = 1

Modified: Differential divided by 2 = -.5 (negative because we lost)

Next year handicap: (-2) + (-.5) = -2.5

Spreadsheet

For years, we talked about needing a spreadsheet with formulas to calculate handicaps for the following year. Although it was fun to argue and get confused every year about what the following years handicaps should be, it was time for a change. Finally, a couple of years ago Andy came through with a spreadsheet for us. Since then, win or lose we have a simple way forward.

Like this:

“I do plan to return to golf one day, I just don’t know when that day will be.” – Tiger Woods

As we approach this years Masters and Tiger’s recent resurgence, I thought a Tiger quote was fitting. For me, the Masters has always marked the beginning of a new golf season. It also reminds me of one of my favorite golf trips…

The Masters

Most Masters fans already know this, but they have a lottery every year for a chance to buy both daily practice and regular round tickets. You can register for this option here. It’s very strict. You can only submit one email per mailing address. If your entry is chosen, you can buy up to 4 tickets for the pre-selected day you were automatically assigned.

I found out about this lottery in the summer of 2016 just in time to register for the 2017 Masters. As I would find out later, some people have tried for years and have not been selected. I was lucky and was selected for the Wednesday practice round my first year trying! My first thought was to ask my Dad. He was interested, but at 70 wasn’t sure about the travel and walking the course. My next thought was to ask the guys about making this part of our 2017 golf trip. It would add a few days to our trip, but this was the Masters. They were all in.

We had already covered North and South Carolina in our Charlotte 2015 trip. Looking at the map, Atlanta would work. We could get Georgia and Alabama checked off our list and it was just over a 2 hour drive to Augusta. It would be more driving than usual, but we really need to get 2 states a year to have a chance at golfing in all 50 states.

As we drove toward Augusta, we kept a close eye on the weather radar and it wasn’t looking good. A huge storm was headed that way. The only question was; how bad and how long? That didn’t keep the excitement building as we got closer and closer. Once we arrived, we made the long trek from the parking lot to the main entrance. If you have never been to the Masters, it feels like a golf theme park. A gigantic parking lot, over-sized entrance and a mass of people flooding in. They do not allow cell phones here and collect them at the entrance if you have one. The only way to take pictures is to bring an actual camera.

As you can imagine, the grounds were immaculate. Not a blade of grass out-of-place. The restrooms had attendants pointing you to open stalls! Lines to the gift shop were huge. The sky looked ominous, but this was awesome. We looked forward to walking the grounds, enjoying food and drinks with prices frozen since the 80’s, purchasing souvenirs and checking out the famous Par 3 tournament. Unfortunately, mother nature had other ideas.

We were in golf heaven, if even for a short time. We started walking the course. I’ve watched the Masters on TV for as long as I can remember. Seeing the course in person is the golf equivalent of seeing the Grand Canyon for the first time. UNBELIEVABLE. After making it around 3 holes, the horn sounded. They were evacuating the course.

We avoiding leaving for as long as we could, in hope that the weather would pass. Sadly, but eventually, we made the long walk back to the car. For over an hour, we sat in the car listening for updates. Finally, they re-opened.

Getting in the first time was pretty fast, but now everyone was trying to get back in at the same time. We easily stood in line for an hour. While we waited, we heard interesting stories about people paying $1500 for today’s practice, losing their tickets, even the story about the guy who created the famous pimento-cheese sandwich. I attempted to add to the entertainment by quizzing those around us with facts found in the Masters program.

Once we were back inside, we headed over to the practice range to watch some of the current and past greats warm up. Speith, Sergio, Watson, Couples and Els to name a few. It was fantastic. Then it wasn’t. About 20 minutes after getting back inside, they closed the course for the day. We never made it past the practice range. No gift shop. No cheap beer. No cheese sandwiches. No more walking the greatest grounds in golf. They have never had to cancel the Par 3 contest until this year. Our year.

Our trip was long. Our stay was short. All in all, it was totally worth it.